Category: Uncategorized
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Why I’m Tired of Praying for Peace
This week, once again, I had a turn on the Rabbis Without Borders blog on the My Jewish Learning website. My turn came in the wake of the attacks in Paris after which, I must admit, a deep sense of sorrow filled me. As we float between pessimism and optimism, I offer these thoughts (follow…
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Finding Expansiveness on a Tuesday Afternoon
Confession #1: You might have already realized this but I didn’t write a column last week. Last week was a bit busy for me, not only with work but with Yohanna being out of town attending a conference, I was solo parenting for a few days. Balancing that fact, along with things at work that…
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Enough
One of the most moving parts of my trip to Israel a few months ago wasn’t even a part of my official itinerary. Once my program of Interfaith Partners for Peace ended, I spend a few days on my own which included a visit to Yohanna’s uncle Eli and his family in Ramat Hasharon, outside…
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Love Thy (Next-Door) Neighbor as Thyself
It was my monthly turn on the Rabbis Without Borders blog today. Here is my contribution, reflecting on a recent incident. Talking about The Twilight Zone, neighbors, our ancestor Abraham, Halloween and my chickens… Love Thy (Next-Door) Neighbor as Thyself
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Noah and Small Injustices
This Shabbat we turned to the story of Noah, and small injustices. The story of Noah and the flood is perhaps known to us. It is a story that is told to us as children and a story that is a part of the popular imagination. (And recently was a major motion picture.) God, dissatisfied with…
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Here We Are Again, For the Very First Time
This was one of my favorite phrases to come out of my recent 18-month program on mindfulness and embodied spirituality for Jewish clergy, run by the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. One of my teachers, Rabbi Jonathan Slater, spoke them as we came to one of our last mediation sessions of the program. I echoed these…
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Yom Kippur Day 5776: “Jews and Race, in Olympia and Beyond”
My friends, we need to talk about race. Three months ago, two African American men were shot by a white police officer here in Olympia. The men were caught trying to shoplift beer at the westside Safeway and, after fleeing, were confronted by a member of the Olympia police. Some form of altercation happened, and the two…
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Kol Nidre 5776: “What is Your Purpose? The Time is Now.”
If not now, tell me when If not now, tell me when, We may never see this moment Or place in time again If not now, if not now, tell me when. I don’t know if I am much into signs. I understand the concept of synchronicity—how the proximity of certain events in time can…
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Rosh Hashanah Day 5776: “Heeding the Call–Both Papal and Jewish–For Environmental Justice”
This summer, I had the opportunity to head off to Camp Kalsman, a Jewish camp in Arlington, to spend a week as a member of the faculty. A rotating group of educators and rabbis and cantors spends a week to 10 days teaching, leading services, tutoring b’nai mitzvah and providing support alongside the full-time staff.…
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